When It Comes to Mailboxes, Size Matters

Much mail, most of it actually in e-mail form, came in about the U.S. Postal Service's recent proposal to increase the size of the standard apartment mailbox.

Most correspondents agreed with the Postal Service that larger mailboxes are needed to cope with the trend toward bigger pieces of mail and to improve security. Within the group supporting larger mailbox sizes, however, are residents who are willing to find a compromise in light of the enormous expense the changeover could cost the apartment industry. (The National Multi Housing Council and its lobbying partner, the National Apartment Association, estimate the total bill would come to $2 billion.)

Balled up, mangled mail that they don't want in the first place was among residents' top concerns. Many also recognized the trouble postal workers go through just to deliver the mail to their small boxes.

Below are excerpts of some of the responses:

• Jenny Igoe of Reston wrote, "I lived in apartments from 1994 until March of this year, in both Maryland and Virginia, and the small mailboxes were a recurring irritation -- especially once I was informed by the Post Office that I have no control over the receipt of the local newspapers and fliers that get stuffed in every mailbox. I can't tell you how many times I banged my hand against the side of a mailbox, or even got a paper cut while trying to retrieve mail. I came to accept bent, torn magazines and mangled envelopes as a matter of course. And forget about skipping the daily visit to the mailbox: Sometimes just two days' worth of mail would fill it. For lengthy vacations, getting your mail held is the way to go, but to go out of town for a long weekend only to return to a mailbox that almost can't be emptied is a bit much.

"I can appreciate that apartment owners don't want to spend money to fix a situation that I'm sure they think isn't broken, but I think they should speak with their tenants. . . . I have no idea how much mailbox renovations would cost, but I can't imagine it's so much that it wouldn't be worth the added value to the tenant."

• Donald E. White of Fairfax City wrote, "Mailbox big enough? DEFINITELY NOT! Reading that question . . . made my blood boil! Apartment/condo/co-op building managers/owners may howl like banshees. Let's not forget that these howling building managers/owners get their voluminous mail nicely hand-delivered to the live human beings at their reception desks.

"Unlike us residents, whose mail gets bent into creases, tightly squeezed, then fist-hammered into the small square opening seemingly designed for a wine bottle. . . .

"Infuriating? YOU BET! Especially when the residents happen to witness today's letter carriers battering the mail into the tiny boxes. . . .

"In all fairness to the U.S. Postal Service, they did get it right to finally realize that what we residents need are FLAT mailboxes, whatever the size."

• Inger Maslin of Vienna said that she and her husband have resorted to renting a nearby post office box to accommodate the volume of mail they get and to make sure that first-class mail doesn't end up crumpled in the bottom of the box. Even with the extra cost, she said the two "are happy to know our most important mail will not be mangled by the time we get it."

Maslin said that the proposed changes would be great, although she also empathizes with property owners.

"A compromise for the USPS and the rental housing industry may be to install outdoor cluster boxes at the complexes. I imagine the rental housing industry may feel it affects the aesthetics of their complexes. However, it seems as if that may be the best solution for this problem."

• A.E. Checkley of Washington wrote, "I live in a relatively new building (circa 2002), with decent-size mailboxes for large-format magazines and small packages, and a solution for larger packages that might work for landlords who don't want to replace every tenant's box. In addition to a box for each tenant, [management] installed two rather large boxes and left the keys hanging from the locks (which I thought odd until I received my first package). The postal carrier puts a large package into a big box, locks it, then puts the key in the appropriate tenant's box, with a note that says please leave this key in the lock once you retrieve your package. I would go one step further and recommend several large boxes of varying sizes for buildings that have no office or desk to sign for packages, and permanent key rings printed in both English and Spanish."